2012 in review - don't bang the door on your way out

I’m ready to slam the door on 2012. Really, it’s been a c*nt of a year.

They’ve been three deaths: my mother, my cat (truly my familiar) and an old friend. I rail against the creep of cancer into the lives of peers. It feels like a sniper is picking off so many wonderful women in their forties, leaving behind bewildered men and children whose lives are forever altered.

But back to food.

I think I lost my appetite this year. The paucity of recipes posted would suggest so. My return to the Northern Hemisphere, after over half my lifetime away, smashed the barrier between me and the world and I started seeing again.  But tasting? It took until I got to Russia, the place I feared I’d starve for a week due to my pernickety food intolerances, to wake up my tastebuds. It was a country that brings your senses to life but perhaps that’s partially due to the reptilian brain being activated, so much strangeness in a strange land.

Pleased to report that I’m fully tasting again and loving:

• Watermelon, even it’s sticky juices dribbling down my chin (which is a big deal for a Virgo).
• Watermelon and strawberry juice. What’s not to love about a cheery pink juice?
• Homemade vegan iced chocolate, made with a spicy Aztec powder, spiked with a stick of cassia bark.
• Juiced apple, cucumber, lemon and mint – transformed into oh-my-goddess-these-are-amazing icy poles. Perfect coolers on a hot day.
• And wondering what apple, sorrel and cucumber icy poles would be like?
• Carnival cookies.
• Smoked tofu, vegetable, chilli and garlic stir fries – my go to meal this season. An oldie but a goodie.
• So too Asian style coleslaws.

Mourning the end of my last batches of homemade:

• Vanilla extract (in my grief fog I forget to continue to replenish what I’d believed was an endless jar of vodka soaked vanilla beans)
• Red chilli preserved in vinegar
• Mauritian pickles
• Kimchi

Food trends 

Twelve months ago I looked into my culinary crystal ball and channelled the rise of coconut, macaroons (not macarons for a change) and local honey, with middling degrees of accuracy.

For 2013 – I don’t like what I see. I fear the gourmet-ising of junk food will continue. There’s been hot dogs, burgers and silly little sliders dominating dinning landscape from food trucks and corner pubs, to restaurants that could do so much better.

Why I dislike this trend is that it’s a cheap cop out. The punter fills up on bread, there’s varying degrees of quality and quantity of protein and paltry vegetable content. It requires minimum skill and gains maximum profit.

George Calombaris vows that the ''souvlaki is the new burger” and I don’t doubt it. Sadly I predict the trend will continue ‘til chefs (and their accountants) run out of cheap junk food to glamourize.

Perhaps all this meaty stuff (don’t get me started on the rise of meatballs, schnitzel and other carnivorous old favourites) is a reaction against the increasing vegetarian presence in one food-laden corner of the city. Brunswick Street and environs is becoming a veritable Golden Triangle for those who eschew the flesh (or just want a break from it between burgers). With Madame K, Yong Green, Lord of the Fries and the perennially packed Vegie Bar expanding their eco terrain in the main part of the strip, within spitting distance of Mr Natural, The Moroccan Soup Bar and Trippy Taco. There’s talk of South veganizing Collingwood and already a new vegan café within the Golden Triangle that promises Vegusto toasties in the New Year.

There will be more food trucks, I promise you there will, but will they be slaughtering their own pigs or fermenting their own nut cheese? I don't know.

During 2013 I fear even greater polarization between those who choose either the flesh or the bean. And both will come out victorious in their own sweet way.

How’s your year been? What are you loving at the moment? Do you agree with my food predictions (just between you and me I hope I’m wrong)? Have you got any of your own?

Goodbye 2012 – don’t slam the door on your way out.

the ones that got away

In October I quietly ignored the 6^th anniversary of Confessions of a Food Nazi. There’s been a lot of water (and homemade cordial) under the bridge since that first post on rhubarb with strawberries and rosewater.

At the beginning of the year I went mad on fish cutlets in a tomato and olive sauce. Just remembering it now is driving me crazy with desire, it was just so darn good. But give me a glut of tomatoes and I’m still more likely to make the vegan wonder of 2010 (tofu in a gingery tomato sauce) instead.

In June I had a wet weekend in Newcastle and ate Balinese food and in August I hung out with people from Newcastle in Bali at the Mindfulness retreat. Despite the weather, I enjoyed the NSW city but for the food, swimming and massage I'd be back on a plane to Indonesia any day.

Though Bali was the sweet spot of the year, the vegan truffle redux were a close second. The only food promise I’ll make for 2012 is there will be more experimentation with coconut oil extracted flavours. Plus lots more vegan food as the Significant Eater has announced, that for now, he’s joined the ranks. This summer I’ll be making more quinoa and millet dishes than you can poke a stick at.

Beyond my own kitchen I’ll take a stab at local food trends 2012:

1. Coconut will be king. I’m predicting coconut oil, water, milk, cream and even dried coconut in various forms will be the new hot flavour. Or maybe it’s because I have a Mr Nice Guy coconut vegan cupcake still a vibrant memory in my mouth from lunch?

2. Macarons have had their day; they jumped the shark when supermarkets started to sell them. Canelles could be in for a similar fate. I don’t think it’ll trend but I’d love the irony if macaroons became the new macarons (and that’d segue nicely from my first prediction!)

3. Local honey. The city is becoming alive with hives on urban rooftops and any hip eatery seems to be doubling as an apiary. In 2012 I’m predicting we’ll see honey labelled by street name, a little like Swords wines celebrated the back streets of Fitzroy in the ‘80s.

For now I’ll save my rants on the zillions of dumb emails I got courtesy of the blog this year (there are doozies, I promise you) and leave you with a few pics of the posts the got away

I grew parsnips for the first time, the first flush of young veg were so tender you could eat them raw. Nothing like the old tired ones that make their way to the shops.

Wraps are my home lunchtime fallback. Something leafy and green from the garden, tomato and avocado if there's any to be found and some kind of protein. Often panfried tofu or this tempeh fried with kecap manis. A little mayo never goes astray if the mountain bread is a little on the dry side.

I'm a sucker for Noisette's fig and apricot fruit loaf. In the rare event there's any leftover on the weekend, I make thick batons, dunk in vanilla scented beaten egg and whip up the most amazing French toast. Best served drenched in pure maple and organic strawberries.

I love to have my main meal at lunch (and then just a wrap for dinner) some days. This was a pepper crusted hunk of flash fried tuna (cut into strips so I could lazily eat the meal with only a fork), topped with tuna and Kalamata olives, served with roast asparagus and potatoes. A Nicoise bake, rather than salad.

My October trip back to Wellington, I got to have brunch at Larder in Miramar (aka Wellywood). Celeriac and smoked eel in a breakfast dish? It made my day.

What stood out (or got away) in your journey through 2011? Do take a punt at some food trends!

Have a pleasant season of over-eating and a healthy New Year.

not quite a year in review

New loves
Serendipity sorbet (from downtown Marrickville) – fell in love with their coconut and kaffir lime served with some of those sour cherries in juice from a jar. Their chocolate sorbet wins best dairy-free creamy chocolate hit of the year. Oh and I’ve just discovered passionfruit and chilli – oh my!

Tofu in gingery tomato sauce, definitely the most made new recipe of the year. I’ve done all kinds of variations to add some vegetables to it, all fabulous, though eggplant is still the best for it’s melty texture and sponge like quality to suck up the flavours.

Green coriander seeds. I just wish I could have fresh seeds all year round.

With so many new eateries in my neck of the woods it’s hard to pick a favourite newcomer. Hats off to Munsterhaus for providing casual, healthy food that makes me crave more. I also developed a soft spot for breakfast in the sun outside the quaint Miss Marmalade. Honourable mention to the latest in the Vue family – Café Vue at the Melbourne international terminal. Leaving the country has never tasted so good. Considering the paucity of decent food in the entire airport, let alone when you are held hostage in the departure hall, the luxury and great (though rather rich) food at Café Vue is a gift from the goddess. If you are on a cut-price jaunt, I suspect their breakfast/lunch/dinner boxes beat anything you could get onboard. The toasted olive bread and tuna sandwich that I ate there just before Christmas made it easy to ignore the horror of a meal Air New Zealand attempted to serve up.

Out of town finds– Black Star Pastry (Newtown, Sydney) and the queue-worthy Mamak (Haymarket, Sydney). I suspect I’ll be eating in Sydney even more in 2011, so feel free to tell me your favourite casual haunts in the harbour city.

Falling in Love Again
Best new old friend Annabel Langbein. Despite so much of her food being dairy or meat rich, I loved her program The Free Range Cook for her casual attitude towards cooking and simple recipes – so much so I dusted off her cookbook and actually made the recipes I’d earmarked.

In a similar vein, in a moment of boredom on a visit to my family in NZ, I jazzed up my mum’s chocolate rough recipe and fell in love with a decidedly adult twist on a childhood favourite slice.

Other foods I fell for all over again included kale, New Zealand whitebait, ginger beer and mushrooms on toast.

A couple more “best ofs”
Best experiment – harissa prawns. Homemade harissa paste has become my favourite “fridge fixing” – other than tagines it goes into chilli bean dishes, mayonnaise to accompany carrot fritters and smoked eel but best of all was using to marinate prawns. Drooling in memory of it just typing this…

Best food related meme – most likely the only one I did but I loved Jill Dupleix’s life in 10 dishes so much, I did it myself.

Social media high and low lights
The Foodblogging event of the year was certainly the inaugural Eat, Drink, Blog. A spectacular event, wonderful participants, incredible cocktails and a delightful meal at St Ali. Best of all was hanging out with fellow bloggers and forming new friendships.

Foodblogging meets old media epic fail of the year – how could we forget the evil Judith Griggs and Crooksource?

What I want more of in 2011
Home cooking. I buy fresh, seasonal organic fruit and veg each week. It’s a pity to waste them. I’ve grown increasingly disenchanted with big bang, expensive restaurants over the years. But perhaps that’s because in Melbourne we are lucky to have so many small, understated, quality neighbourhood eateries like The Commoner in Fitzroy and Da Noi in South Yarra. Neither new kids on the block but both provided my favourite dining experiences of the year – the perfect blend of the best company to eat and drink with, waiters who know how to do their job and talented chefs.

What are you food highs of 2010 and what are you hankering for in 2011?

the year in food

The countdown is on. A few more days of work, running around like a headless chook, the last minute catch up for lunch with friends and then I am off to the airport for that familiar trans-Tasman flight once more. Here are my culinary highs of 2007. What have yours been?


Best dining experience of the year:
Yu-u, not just finally getting around to obtaining a booking at this enigmatic little gem and the steady supply of delicious morsels but also the unexpected communal dining experience. Memorable!

Best eating experience of the year:
All the tofu, tempeh and fresh fish in Indonesia. Six months on I’m still dreaming of the food there. My first gado gado on the beach at Vila Shanti, my little Sanur favourite Pregina and Sura’s in Ubud. Then there was the drinks – young coconut juice straight from the tree for breakfast, soursop at Sura’s and Bali’s own Storm Beer.

The kitchen accessory promise I never got around to in 2007:
The tagine. I got close to procuring one twice, it is just I have such a small kitchen. Now…if I turn the old laundry into an extended pantry think of all the junk wonderful, used only one time a year, gadgets I could amass!

Oh-my-goodness flavour explosions:
Savoury – the eel from Sapphire Smoked Seafood (Eden).
Sweet - “The Cook and the Chef” fried rhubarb.

Even better than childhood:
Making my mum’s chocolate mousse with 85% chocolate!

Most delicious ‘detox’ dish:
A toss up between quinoa pilaf and stuffed artichokes.

Perennial favourites:
The site meter still goes crazy for gyoza, with cooking whole fish coming in at number 2.

Dairy-free discovery of the year:
Jill Dupleix’s guilt-free 'ice cream'.

Favourite new brekkie dish:
Cross-cultural baked eggs, though fresh fruit in any form is a close contender.

Best cooking school:
Hands down (and it happened to be the only entry) winner – Casa Luna in Ubud. Have only made one of the dishes since but the sultry summer weather should motivate me any day now.

Best bar:
This is an unfair question as Melbourne has so many and I have not sampled them all. The Rooftop bar at the Order of Melbourne is delightful at twilight and Geralds Bar for sheer convenience, amazing range of drinks and neighbourhood quirkiness.

New foods (without leaving the country to find them):
Food I played with at home for the first time included: nettles, fresh turmeric, monkfish, Samphire, mulberries (they weren’t a part of my kiwi upbringing), desert limes and black radishes.

Melbourne food scene question of 2007:
Where were the food bloggers in the future of food writing at the Melbourne Food Festival? According to the old media (Fairfax) sponsored chew and blab-fest food blogging is not even a blip on the radar. What will they pull out of the bag for 2008?

Update:
The next day Ed posted that Matt Preston phoned to ask him to be a food blogger presence in the 2008 MFF Out of the Frypan panel along with Stephanie Wood. See a little stirring in the blog world is worth it in the end!